Chapter 3 - TWENTY-THREE CHILDREN
The first DNA results arrived nine days later.
Rachel opened them alone.
She had insisted Grant take his own test separately.
Maddie’s report showed the expected maternal relationship to Rachel.
Then came the paternal matches.
Twenty-three probable half-siblings.
Ages ranged from four to twenty-six.
Three lived in Illinois.
Five in New York.
Two in California.
One in Toronto.
Others were scattered across the country.
Rachel stared at the screen until the names became meaningless.
Twenty-three.
And those were only the people who had tested.
A message arrived minutes later from a woman named Claire Donnelly.
Are you Maddie’s mother?
Rachel hesitated before answering.
Yes.
Claire replied instantly.
My son Evan is one of her matches. We have a private group. You need to see what we found.
Rachel joined a video call that evening.
Seven parents appeared.
Claire spoke first.
“My son was conceived in 2012.”
Another woman said, “My twins were 2009.”
A man named Peter raised his hand slightly.
“Our daughter was conceived in 2001.”
Rachel frowned.
“Different donors?”
Everyone nodded.
Claire shared a spreadsheet.
Donor 112.
Donor 309.
D-418.
Donor 77A.
Different ethnic descriptions.
Different occupations.
Different medical histories.
Yet the children were genetically related through their biological father.
“That makes no sense,” Rachel said.
“It gets worse,” Claire replied.
A photograph appeared on screen.
An older man with silver hair stood behind a lectern at a medical conference.
Dr. Adrian Vale.
Founder of Northbrook Reproductive Medicine.
Rachel stared.
“How do you know it’s him?”
“We don’t,” Peter said. “Not conclusively.”
Claire added, “But one of the oldest children matched with Vale’s documented nephew.”
Rachel leaned closer.
“Documented how?”
“Obituary records. Public family trees. Birth certificates.”
The genetic distance strongly suggested that the mystery father belonged to Vale’s immediate family.
Possibilities included Vale himself.
His brother.
Or a son.
“Did he have children?” Rachel asked.
“No legally recognized children,” Claire said.
Peter gave a humorless laugh.
“Apparently that may depend on your definition.”
Rachel looked again at Vale’s photograph.
Something about his face bothered her.
Not familiarity exactly.
Recognition without memory.
She saved the image.
Later that night she found Grant sitting in his car outside Natalie’s house.
He had not asked to come inside.
Rachel walked out.
“You can’t keep doing this.”
“I wanted to know if she was okay.”
“She’s asleep.”
Grant nodded.
Rachel held up her phone.
“Twenty-three matches.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“Twenty-three paternal half-siblings.”
Grant stared.
She showed him Vale’s photograph.
“This is the man everyone thinks may be responsible.”
Grant studied the screen.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“I’ve seen him before.”
Rachel’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Where?”
Grant shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Grant.”
“I said I don’t know.”
He zoomed in.
Vale had been handsome when the photograph was taken.
Gray-blue eyes.
Square jaw.
A distinctive notch in his left eyebrow.
Grant touched the screen.
“My mother.”
May you like
“What about her?”
“I think she knew him.”
